Gothic Kabbalah
Gothic Kabbalah is the thirteenth studio album by Swedish symphonic metal band Therion. It was released in Europe on 12 January 2007. The album was mixed by Stefan Glaumann, who also contributed to bands such as Rammstein, Evergrey, Europe and Def Leppard. The main line-up has been slightly changed since previous studio albums : Petter Karlsson returned to play drums, having already played with the band during Lemuria / Sirius B tour during the period of 2004–2006. Since Christofer Johnsson announced in 2006 he is retiring from singing, vocals on Gothic Kabbalah were performed by Mats Levén, as well as Snowy Shaw and three female singers: Katarina Lilja, Anna Nyhlin and Hannah Holgersson.
The album is based on concepts from the life of 17th-century esoteric scholar Johannes Bureus.
Track listing
All lyrics by Thomas Karlsson. Music as indicated:Vinyl release
Gothic Kabbalah has been also released as limited edition double LP vinyl. It features colored vinyl, gatefold cover and it has been released in 1000 hand-numbered copies.Reception
The album has received generally good reviews from critics, including Chronicles of Chaos and AllMusic hailing it as "the first truly great rock opera of the 21st century".The album was the band's first to enter the Swedish Albums Chart.
Personnel
- Christofer Johnsson – keyboards, programming, guitar
- Kristian Niemann – lead and rhythm guitars, keyboards
- Johan Niemann – bass guitar, guitar, acoustic guitar
- Petter Karlsson – drums, guitar, keyboards, solo and choral vocals, percussion
- Mats Levén – lead vocals, guitar
Guest musicians
- Snowy Shaw – lead vocals, "Perennial Sophia", "Wisdom and the Cage", "Tuna 1613", "Trul", "Close up the Streams"
- Katarina Lilja – vocals
- Hannah Holgersson – vocals, soprano, "Wand of Abaris"
- Jonas Samuelsson–Nerbe – tenor
- Anna Nyhlin – solo soprano on "The Falling Stone" and "Path to Arcady"
- Karin Fjellander – choral soprano
- Ken Hensley – Hammond organ
- Joakim Svalberg – Hammond organ
- Rolf Pilotti – solo flute on "Gothic Kabbalah" and "Trul"
- Stefan Glaumann – tambourine